As many of you now know, my mom, Betty Evey, was recently diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer while down at the University of Michigan.
In July we noticed a mass in moms neck. She went for an ultrasound and it showed that her thyroid was enlarged. Initially they were just calling it a goiter but sent her for biopsies to be done in Traverse City. The first biopsy came back with not enough cells for diagnosis so she was scheduled for an ultrasound guided biopsy to also be done in Traverse City. This biopsy (7 slides) also came back non-diagnostic.We know now that this was because they were toohigh in the thyroid where there was nothing but scar tissue. At this point we decided to seek answers at U of M.
In late October mom saw Dr Chinn at U of M. He was very concerned with the progression of this tumor and scheduled mom for surgery for a complete thyroidectomy with a biopsy to be completed on removal.
November 7th mom underwent surgery. Just a fewhours in Dr Chinn came out of surgery with the news that he was not going to be able to remove this tumor because it had completely wrapped itself around her carotid artery and has invaded her esophagus (this explains moms difficulty swallowing prior to surgery). He explained that she would need a permanent breathing tube due to the deviation of her trachea that the tumor was causing along with a permanent feeding tube due to the involvement of the esophagus. We knew going into surgery that these were potential complications but were hopefulthey wouldn’t manifest.
Betty spent a week down at U of M before I could get her home to the Sault. She has now began chemo and radiation at the Karmanos Cancer Institutein Petoskey 5 days a week. We know that the chemo and radiation are purely palliative as there is no cure for the type of cancer that she has. However she wants to live. Betty is a fighter and we want to make the rest of her days as comfortable as they can be.
The hopes with chemo and radiation is to shrink this tumor enough that she may not need the breathing tube or feeding tube any more. The financial aspect of treatment is stressing mom out though. She does not qualify for the Cancer Care assistance as her type of cancer is not covered because it’s not curable and treatment is purely palliative. Medicare does not cover all of her chemo and radiation either. Her special feedings are also not covered by Medicare.
I have essentially taken a leave of absence from my job as an Advanced EMT to provide the around the clock care that Betty now requires with her breathing and feeding tubes, medications, feedings, as well as transportation to radiation and chemo five days a week in Petoskey.
So many of you have asked how you can help and this is the best I can come up with. To help relieve some of the stress on Betty so that she doesn’t have to worry about how her treatments, food, and care are going to be handled and she can focus on fighting the best fight she can for as long as she can.
Even if you can not donate, please share, pray, and send positive thoughts for mom. She sure could use them! Thank you! We love you all!!